T418 Fall 2001

Music and Ideas (3 cr.)

Prof. L. Rowell

1:00-2:15 PM MW Room M267

T418 is an introduction to the philosophy of music, with special focus on aesthetic issues such as beauty, meaning, values, and the relationship between music and the other arts. Other topics will include an introduction to comparative (East-West) aesthetics, music and politics, music and myth, and musical perception. Readings will include passages from major authors from Plato and Aristotle to Cage and Adorno. T418 is primarily a discussion course; the course requirements include three short essays (ca. 3,000 words) but no examination. The course may also be taken to satisfy the Intensive Writing Requirement of COAS, in which case an additional essay is required. T418 is cross-listed with the N399 Honors Seminar. Enrollment is limited to 15.

Text: Rowell, Lewis. Thinking about Music. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1983.